Admin...

Jeez, term has finished but there's still loads of admin to do r.e. the teaching. Have been working out their final marks (essay/test/participation) and then adjusting for their attendance. Now have to write their course reports, which although need only a few sentences per student will take quite a while to do. I guess this is just my first little taste of the amount of admin that occurs in academia...

Part-time job!

Just today I heard that I've got the part-time Editorial Assistant job on the journal Party Politics. Really good news as it will both give me some much needed income, and also look good on the old academic CV. I start in the New Year!

Essay marking

I've been working my way through the 45 or do British Political History essays that I've now got to mark. I'm pleased to say that most of them are pretty good. A couple so far have been very good, but a couple have been pretty bad (to the point of possibly not being a pass mark). Having done quite a few now, I've definitely got a feel for it. Some students just seem to know how to construct an essay with a clear structure and argument, and others clearly don't. Anyway, it's been interesting, but I'm glad I haven't got too many more to go now...

More teaching

Pleased to arrange today to teach Explanatory Concepts in Political Science in the Spring and Summer terms. More teaching experience, and more income!

Getting paid!

Got first ever pay for academic teaching at the end of this month - most welcome! The seminars have been going well, and I have been enjoying doing them. Hopefully there is another course I can teach next term as well. The only slight issue is that preparing the seminars is distracting me away from doing my own work, so I need to get more onto that now.

First teaching

Took my first seminars today in British Political History. It went fine but I can already see how much preparation is going to be required in order to ensure I can get people talking and getting fully involved. Today was just introductory stuff, and next week is a quiz, but after that it moves to discussion of the set readings, so I think I will need to think about getting them talking in small groups, doing a debate perhaps etc. Happy to have got underway with teaching though, that's good enough for now!

Dissertation feedback

Got initial feedback and mark for my MSc dissertation - a B+ mark, which I'm happy with, and generally positive feedback. Nice to feel the MSc is finally done and dusted! Now I just have to turn it into a research outline that will get approved - that's the next six months work.

ESRC funding news

Well, I didn't get the ESRC funding in the end. Very disappointing after all the work. Apparently they only made 77 awards in the whole country, and didn't even fund all the A+ marked projects. Ridiculously competitive, and a horribly long-winded process to go through. I could say a lot more right now but I won't. I still plan to press ahead with the PhD but it's obviously going to be a lot harder financially.

MSc complete - dissertation handed in

Well, the dissertation has been handed in. So that's it - the MSc is finished.

Phew.

MSc dissertation finished!

It's done! Printed out three copies today and faffed about with the cover sheets and all that. Just need to hand it in now. Feeling relieved, and starting to feel a sense of achievement in finishing the MSc - it's been a long slog since October last year when it started.

In other news, I've been offered the opportunity to do some teaching next term. It will be teaching British Political History to first year undergrads. So, that's pretty exciting, great experience and a little bit of cash too.

MSc dissertation coming along

Well, despite the current heatwave I have been making good progress on my MSc dissertation, which is a research outline for my PhD project. Having done most of the brain work for this months and months ago for the funding proposal, it seems to be not too hard to flesh it out for the dissertation, although it's making me a bit uneasy that I think I'll be done way before the 1 Sep deadline.... But then again, I always hand it my assignments early. Thinking I will finish it by end of July at the latest. Meeting supervisors next week for probably the last time in this whole phase - then the wait to hear about PhD funding in early August...

MSc coursework done

Well, I've done the four assessments for this terms now - Discourse Analysis; Comparative Method; Self, Voice & Creativity; and Policy Evaluation. It's been a lot of work to get to grips with four new topics, but it's been useful. For the DA course I looked at some manifestos for the upcoming Euro elections. For the Policy course I looked at some things from my old workplace in Adult Social Care. The writing course was a reflective paper about my writing processes, and the comparative course I looked at Qualitative Comparative Analysis and tried to relate it to my own research. So, just need to hand it all in now and then start looking at what is require for the dissertation, which I now have 3 whole months to do (1 Sep deadline).

Application submitted to ESRC Open competition

At long last, my PhD funding application has gone off through the online Je-S system to the ESRC. It's a relief. Now I just have to wait til early August to hear the outcome, and in the meantime finish the MSc.

New term starts tomorrow

Well, the third and final term of my MSc starts tomorrow. It's only a five 5 week term, with four courses - Discourse Analysis; Comparative Method; Self, Voice & Creativity; and Policy Evaluation. It's going to be tough to have four assessed bits of work to do, all for late June deadline.

And there's still the question of getting my ESRC funding application submitted - finally! We are going to tweak one of the references and then it can go off. That will be a relief when it does - then I just have to wait months to hear...

No Quota, into the Open

Well, I heard today that I didn't get an ESRC Quota award, but I am being put forward for the Open competition. I am disappointed of course, but at least there's still a chance (albeit about an 18 per cent one). And even if I don't get any ESRC funding, I'm going to go ahead with the PhD anyway - to hell with it!

Waiting to hear about my funding

I'm absolutely on tenterhooks today as I may hear something about my PhD funding application. After so many months of work on the proposal, I just need some news now!

Qual and Quant assessments done!

The qualitative assessment on interviewing in done and handed in, and I've just finished the second Quant assessment and I'll hand it in soon. What a relief! I never want to do any statistics again! Actually, it was okay doing some stats, and all it did was reinforce my view about quant methods i.e. how little they can really tell us about the social world. If you want to understand the world, you need to talk to people!

Anyway, now I am on tenterhooks for hearing about my PhD funding application... watch this space.

Doing interviews

This week I did two interviews for my qualitative methods course. They went fine, my new digital dictaphone worked very well, and I have now transribed them (which took hours). Now I have to think about ways to analyse the data and do the 5000 word assessment. And do the second quantitative assessment too... By 20 April...

DPhil funding application submitted!

Well, it's gone. The application for funding for my DPhil. The ESRC form, plus the 2 page proposal, plus the two references, have all gone off. As far as I know, it goes to a meeting at the end of March and so I suppose I may hear something at that point. Can't believe it's gone off now after so many, many months of working on it. There's nothing more I can do now except wait and hope!

All getting a bit stressful

Only a week to go now til the deadline for submitting the funding proposal and it's all getting a bit stressful. The proposal itself is 99 per cent done, much better for the input of comments from other faculy members. But there are still other bits to do as we're using the Je-S online system to collate it all together. It will be great when it's gone off, but then I can worry about hearing the result...

At the same time, with the exact same deadline, I've had the first statistics assessment to do for the MSc. That's done now, but it's been tricky. Shame the MSc and the DPhil application process can't be better co-ordinated, seeing as the MSc is meant to be in preparation for carrying on etc. I should mention it to someone, but then everything to do with the admin of the MSc has been badly done in my view.

Then there's the qualitative assessment to start - the interviewing project. Hopefully doing two interviews the week after next. Another change of mental gear... but I'm looking forward to doing that project as it will make a change from statistics!

Research proposal

Phew - trying to get my research proposal finished. Yesterday I got it into a 2 page form with about as much squeezed in as possible. It has now gone off round a few people for them to comment on it. Now I have to register with the Je-S online application system. It will be really, really good in a few weeks time when it goes off. I can't concentrate on the MSc coursework right now as the proposal is the most important thing, for the long term.

Interview study

Making progress with the interview study for the qual course. Have got two interviews lined up so need to prepare questions and be clear about the aims etc. I know it's going to be a time consuming process to transcribe the interviews, so I'm keen to get on with it. But have to turn my attention back to my research funding proposal as the deadline is only about 3 weeks away now. Brain feels very full !

DPhil place confirmed

Well, I got the letter today formally offering me a place on the DPhil in Contemporary European Studies at Sussex. Pleased of course, just need the funding now! Apparently my referees have done their bit now, and the research outline is nearly there (I think), so things are moving on nicely.

SPSS etc.

Well, I've been playing with SPSS - the software widely used for stats in the social sciences. It's pretty easy to use, like a glorified Excel really. So I feel happier about the practical workshops and test we are going to have using it.

As for the qualitative methods course, it seems like the assessment for that might be harder. I think we have to evaluate the use of a method, but that we can't consider one that is also going to be part of the final dissertation. It seems daft not to be able to do that, seeing as the MSc is meant to be able preparing for doctoral research. Ah well, I'm sure it will all become clear in time!

MSC second term

Well, I've just downloaded the course outlines for the MSc courses for term 2 which starts next week. Qualitative and Quantitative Methods. The qual stuff looks okay, albeit heavily anthropology based again, but the quant stuff looks a bit hard going. It's been a long time since I did any stats (Maths A Level about 15 years ago), and this course has an exam component too... eek.